The present invention belong to a family of related systems that use metadata to control the playback of broadcast programming as disclosed in the previously issued patents and previously filed applications summarized below.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,892,536 and 5,986,692, issued to James D. Logan et al. describe systems which employ metadata to selectively store, manipulate and playback broadcast programming. Some of the novel arrangements and features disclosed in those two patents may be summarized as follows:
1. A remote editing station, which may be at the broadcast facility or at a remote location, classifies, describes or otherwise identifies individual segments of broadcast programming and sends metadata (sometimes referred to as “markup data”) identifying and describing those segments to a remote client receiver. For example, the markup data may identify individual segments by specifying the source and the time of the original broadcast, or by specifying some other unique characteristic of the broadcast signal. The program segments may be TV, radio, or Internet programs, or portions of programs, including individual songs, advertisements, or scenes.
2. The communication link used to transmit the metadata to the client may take one of several forms, including the Internet, a dialup telephone link, the communications pathway used to carry the broadcast signals to the client, or other forms of communication used to transport the metadata to the client.
3. At the client receiver, the metadata is used to identify particular program segments that may then be manipulated in one or more of a variety of ways. For example, the metadata may be used to selectively play back or record particular segments desired by the user; to re-sequence the identified segments into a different time order; to “edit-out” undesired portions of identified segments; to splice new information, such as computer text or advertising, into identified segments for rendering with the program materials, or to substitute different material (e.g. dubbing in acceptable audio to replace profanity to make programming more acceptable to minors).
4. The client receives and locally stores incoming broadcast programming and uses the markup data to identify desired segments within the stored program materials. The local storage mechanism may advantageously include means for concurrently recording live broadcasting while replaying a delayed version of the previously recorded programming as described in U.S. Reissue Pat. 36,801 issued to James D. Logan et al.
5. The markup data can provide a detailed “electronic program guide” to the broadcast programming previously received and stored in a personal video recorder (PVR) or an audio storage device, permitting the user to selectively play back a desired segment or portion of the programming previously recorded.
6. The markup data may be used to create a recorded collection of desired segments extracted from the buffered broadcast, allowing the desired segments to be saved while the remainder of the buffered materials is discarded to conserve recording space.
7. Special markup signals may be selectively sent to individual subscribers based on his or her indicated preferences so that only preferred program segments are identified and processed. For example, a subscriber might request markup data only for sports and news.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,455 issued to James D. Logan et al. describes related systems that use a signal analyzer to extract identification signals from broadcast program segments. These identification signals are then sent as metadata to the client where they are compared with the received broadcast signal to identify desired program segments. For example, a user may specify that she likes Frank Sinatra, in which case she is provided with identification signals extracted from Sinatra's recordings which may be compared with the incoming broadcast programming content to identify the desired Sinatra music, which is then saved for playback when desired.
U.S. Utility patent application Ser. No. 09/536,969 filed by James D. Logan et al. on Mar. 28, 2000 describes further systems that employ metadata for selectively recording and/or reproducing received broadcast programming. The implementations disclosed in that application employ:
1. A receiver connected to record incoming broadcast signals and a PC connected to a web server via the Internet. A browser program running on the PC uses the web interface provided by the web server, selects songs of interest, downloads identification signals (e.g., extracted feature-sets or signatures) which uniquely identify the content of desired program segments (songs), which are then selectively saved for reproduction.
2. A signal processor that identifies characteristics of the stored programming (scene changes, voice vs. music, voices of particular people, etc.) that can be used to selectively store desired programming.
3. Identification signals derived from received broadcast programming at the client produce identification signals which are sent to a remote server which compares the received identification signals with a database at the server and returns attribute information to the client to describe recognized information. The attribute information can include the title of the segment, the name of the performing artist, albums that have a recording of this segment, etc.
4. Program segment files (e.g. songs) in a server library that are made available to those client locations which demonstrate that they are entitled to access the library copy by sending an identification signal to the server that is extracted from a copy of the desired segment already in the client's possession. Thereafter, a qualified client can obtain the authorized copy from the server from remote locations. Locally recorded programming can be uploaded from a client into the library, and such uploading can be “virtual” (that is, need not actually take place) when an equivalent copy of the same program segment is already stored in the server library.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,271,811, 5,732,216, and 6,199,076, and co-pending application Ser. No. 09/782,546 filed on Feb. 13, 2001, by James D. Logan et al. describe an audio program and message distribution system which incorporates the following features:
1. A host system organizes and transmits program segments to client subscriber locations.
2. A scheduling file of metadata schedules the content and sequence of a playback session, which may then be modified by the user.
3. The content of the scheduled programming is varied in accordance with preferences associated with each subscriber.
4. Program segments are associated with descriptive subject matter segments, and the subject matter segments may be used to generate both text and audio cataloging presentations to enable the user to more easily identify and select desirable programming.
5. A playback unit at the subscriber location reproduces the program segments received from the host and includes mechanisms for interactively navigating among the program segments.
6. A usage log is compiled to record the subscriber's use of the available program materials, to return data to the host for billing, to adaptively modify the subscriber's preferences based on actual usage, and to send subscriber-generated comments and requests to the host for processing.
7. Voice input and control mechanisms included in the player allow the user to perform hands-free navigation of the program materials and to dictate comments and messages, which are returned to the host for retransmission to other subscribers.
8. The program segments sent to each subscriber may include advertising materials, which the user can selectively play to obtain credits against the subscriber fee.
9. Parallel audio and text transcript files for at least selected programming enable subject matter searching and synchronization of the audio and text files.
10. Speech synthesis may be used to convert transcript files into audio format.
11. Image files may also be transmitted from the server for synchronized playback with the audio programming 12. A text transcript including embedded markup flags may be used to provide a programmed multimedia presentation including spoken audio text created by speech synthesis synchronized with presentation of images identified by the markup tags.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/699,176 filed on Oct. 28, 2000 describes methods and apparatus for an advertising-supported system for delivering programming to a consumer in a protected form. The delivered programming can only be reproduced in its original form by a specific decryption process and is accompanied by at least one advertisement. The consumer uses a player device capable of performing the decryption process and reproducing the music in its original form only if the advertisement has been or is being presented to the consumer.
The disclosure of each of the foregoing patents and applications is incorporated herein by reference.